The seeds for this collection of essays were sown at a conference in Plovdiv at the end of 2019. The conference, “E.T.A. Hoffmann in Bulgaria”, was dedicated to the 200th anniversary of the publication of Hoffmann’s novella Little Zaches Called Cinnabar (1819), which – strangely, or perhaps completely naturally – became very popular in Bulgaria and has even been adapted for stage and screen. The little monstrous creature Zaches, who reaps the praises for other people’s work as well as the rewards, even became a used word in our political talk at times of crises and social turmoil. That was why it was completely appropriate that Hoffmann should “visit” Bulgaria in 2019, for the 200th anniversary of his novella.
Putting the collection together – again, strangely – happened at a very difficult period of ebbs and flows of pandemic waves, accompanied by the rise and fall of several Bulgarian governments. These somewhat Hoffmann-esque weird times could not but leave a mark on the process of writing for the collection. This is why each essay is followed by the date of its completion.
The collection is bilingual: Bulgarian – German/English. The reason is that this way everybody who enjoys E.T.A. Hoffmann will be able to find and read the text they like according to the language they use. Initially, it was supposed to be a page of Bulgarian followed by a page in a foreign language. However, it turns out that Bulgarian texts often differ from their translations. This is because the addressee is different. It’s one thing to assume that readers would know the names of Georgi Raychev (a Bulgarian writer) or Panayot Tchinkov (a Hoffmann translator), but it’s quite another thing to have to explain such nuances to a foreign audience. So the requirement for the “translation of culture” demanded a new order of things.
Even though this collection is mostly inspired by Little Zaches Called Cinnabar, in structure it follows The Golden Pot whose separate chapters E.T.A. Hoffmann called “vigils”. In his Bulgarian translation, Strashimir Dzhamdzhiev appropriately renders them as “watches”, which is a somewhat suitable translation for the meanings of the Latin word “vigilia”: ancient Rome’s “night watch”, the Church’s “watchnight vigil service”, and “insomnia” in medicine. The seven vigils of this volume have an analogical task – to carefully keep watch and make sense of the cultural processes in order to keep us wakeful and preserve what has been achieved in time.
The year in which this collection was completed also marks an anniversary. In 2022 we commemorate E.T.A. Hoffmann 200 years after his death. This collection of essays is published in advance of another anniversary, the forthcoming celebration in 2026 of 250 years since Hoffmann's birth. Fascination: E.T.A. Hoffmann actually comes out amidst three, which suggests that it does not take an anniversary year to remember the great, fascinating, and inspiring magicians of European literature.
This, however, is not the end of the tale. This collection will be a first volume of the “Jubileum” literary criticism library, whose task it is to remember and remind us of anniversaries, but above all else, to introduce the Bulgarian addition to the European cultural heritage – either through interpretations or adaptations, or explications/implications of influences or texts of literary criticism. Actually, according to Leviticus of the Old Testament, only the fiftieth-year anniversary is a jubilee announced by the ceremonial trumpet (a ram’s horn, or the horn of jubilee).
The instructions for marking this anniversary, however, are valid for all sorts of celebrations whose goal is to sustain cultural memory and feed goodness into the present times.
As Leviticus suggests, “For it is the jubile; it shall be holy unto you: ye shall eat the increase thereof out of the field” (Leviticus 25:12, KJV). So, let us avail ourselves of the works of world literature as well, in order to achieve that which Hoffmann hoped for in his own times of trouble, as spoken out by his characters, desiring peace, harmony and tranquility of the soul. Or hoping to see that which the love-stricken Balthazar sees in Little Zaches Called Cinnabar during his daydreams: “But here, here a sweet peace soon fills my soul. Lying on the flowery turf, I look up into the blue breadth of Heaven, and over me, away over the rejoicing forest, the golden clouds pass like glorious dreams from a distant world full of blissful joys!”.
Enjoy reading! And let us unite worlds apart!
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The book was published with the financial support of the Ministry of Culture and the Bulgarian National Science Fund (КP-06-МNF/29, 05.08.2019).
